Stealing Liberty

Jennifer Froelich

This book can be downloaded and read in iBooks on your Mac or iOS device.

Description

When Reed Paine is sent to a secret detention school for teens whose parents are branded enemies of the state, he doesn’t expect to find friendship – especially after coming face to face with Riley Paca, a girl who has every reason to hate him.

But when Reed, Riley and a few others start reading the old books they find in tunnels under the school, they begin to question what they are taught about the last days of America and the government that has risen in its place.

Then the government decides to sell the Liberty Bell and Reed and his friends risk everything to steal it – to take back their history and the liberty that has been stolen from them.

Customer Reviews

Stealing Liberty

by
jlbtlb75

Stealing Liberty was a riveting novel of intrigue and suspense. Every young person who values freedom should read this book! It is entertaining yet filled with hard choices and lessons learned. A page turner for sure!

The establishment doesn’t want you to read this book

by
Mindle Hastings

Young people have changed the real world throughout history--and it’s time for us to do it again. The rise of dystopian fiction is a reflection of the fear of the rising generation that, rather than heading toward a brighter world, we’re heading toward a “bad utopia.” Series like The Hunger Games, Divergent, The Maze Runner and now Stealing Liberty express our hope that we can steer the world away from its current path.

What Stealing Liberty does that the other series aren’t quite brave enough to tackle is exactly how we end up in our “bad utopia.” It expects its young audience to be mature enough to think through the issues challenging us today, and then see how those issues lead to the dystopia that Reed, Xoey, Riley, Adam and their friends exist in. It’s not a vague calamity that leads us there--it’s the decisions we’re making in this country today.

The characters are diverse, complex and real. They’re not always likable, but as their stories unfold, you understand that they’re a product of their circumstances, but also their decisions. One thing ties them together--their lack of liberty, and the empowerment they gain when they obtained a small sliver of freedom. Jennifer’s writing is clever and powerful. It has been a long time since I’ve been tempted to highlight specific passages in a book because I wanted to revisit them, chew on them, and repeat them to others. They’re statements and ideas that we can’t allow to be locked away in dark places.

What’s great about this story is that, even without the powerful message that pervades it, it’s a fun, mysterious, suspenseful heist novel. There are genuine surprises, twists and revelations. It had me hooked from the first page and I wasn’t satisfied until I was done (and, really, won’t be satisfied until the series is wrapped up). This book is exactly like the ones the kids find in the tunnels--once you start reading about ideas you’re not “supposed” to have, you just can’t stop.